Category: Sports News

Ok, I have tackled the topic of what is perhaps our main weakness, the bullpen, and how it correlates with winning teams, how our middling at best bullpen (at the time) wasn’t doing us any favors. Well that was a month or two ago, feels like 6 weeks? And our bullpen is now worse than it was when I suspected it was an issue. Before I move on to the offense, the Cardinals bullpen is around 24th/25th in MLB in ERA, xERA, and xFIP. It is best by FIP, but even incorporating that stat into WAR, the bullpen has been about replacement level. And that’s with a decent closer. The bullpen has definitely been a big problem.

But, you can’t win games with poor run scoring abilities. Since July 4th, the Cardinals have scored right at 100 runs. That may be (surprisingly) more than the Dodgers and Yankees have scored, but it’s still in the bottom 10 teams of MLB. With an even worse bullpen over that time, it’s tough to win a lot of games. If any of you (I know I have) have been saying the Cardinals offense seems cursed, well you might be right! They have the second worst batting average on balls in play (babip) in all of MLB. Only Toronto is experiencing worse luck on that. Or whatever it is that is happening.

Looking beyond BABIP, there are ways to try and suss out what is going on with the offense. First off, there is almost no power in the Cardinals attack. They have the second lowest ISO (isolated power) in MLB since the 4th of July. So we need to get what power we had back. They’re also not getting on base super well.

What I found out using Statcast

The issues with the Cardinals offense with all the data from this season are that their hitting results show topping the ball too much, so too much ground pounding. They are not elevating the ball enough, and are not barreling the ball enough. They are actually hitting the ball hard, but not effectively.

MLB Ranking by xBA

As you can see, the Cardinals batting average should be, according to xBA (expected batting average) one of the best in MLB! But we are far from that! This is because we are not barreling the ball enough and are suffering from BABIP luck.

MLB Ranking According to Barrel Percentage

The Cardinals need to get better quality of contact. They also are not elevating the ball well.

MLB Rankings by Average Launch Angle

The Cardinals appeared trained to not swing for the fences, almost! How else to describe a full team doing that that should be hitting better by xBA? But look at Milwaukee in dead last, they definitely are not swinging for the fences either. So I don’t know! Is this a hitting philosophy problem, or just something the Cardinals are prone to do? Why are the Brewers so anti-launch angle? What is going on here.

MLB Rankings by Average Exit Velocity

This has me convinced the offense isn’t living up to its true potential. We ARE hitting the ball hard, but not elevating it enough, apparently. Cardinals hitters are swinging over the ball and topping it. But the Cardinals DO have some power, maybe not elite but what we saw towards the beginning of the season wasn’t some mirage.

MLB Rankings by xISO

The Cardinals exit velocity is actually the 6th best in MLB, surprisingly, and now look their expected ISO backs this up because the Cardinals almost crack the top 10 in *expected Isolated Power (their actual results in ISO are BAD, almost dead last in MLB since July 4).

MLB Rankings by xOBP

And here we see the Cardinals should be getting on base more, since July the Cardinals have one of the worst team on-base percentages with only a couple teams worse. But, they should be getting on base with the best of ‘em, apparently! These have been very bad times for the offense, almost inexplicable.

MLB Rankings by xwOBA

Well, well, well, if you have hopes for the Cardinals offense getting out of this rut, you’re not smoking the hopium too much, you are maybe spot on. The offense will improve, if they stop topping the ball and start barreling it.

MLB Rankings for Topped Ball %

Would you look at that, the Brewers are terrible at Topped % while the Cardinals are top 5. Our spinny ground hits are being chopped in the wrong way, it would appear. Great.

Well as you can see, the Cardinals hitters really SHOULD be getting better results, but I suspect they will need to improve their barrel percentage and stop swinging a bit over the ball. I don’t know how they improve this, but it appears to be a major issue. Or maybe not because some teams can get away with it. The Brewers and Cardinals offense shouldn’t be much different. Both teams should be around the top 10 offensively, while one is firmly in the top 10 by wRC+, the other, the Cardinals, are not even a top 20 offense by that measure. Currently, only 8 teams are worse than the Cardinals by wRC+.

So don’t be surprised if the Cardinals offense comes back to do some damage. They can, their average exit velocity as a whole is actually really good. They should be having more opportunities land as hits. If you are hopeful, I can’t really blame you. The starting rotation ain’t bad at all, and the offense has been cursed, apparently… or just not swinging at the right angle, to be real about it. Maybe a bit of both to explain most of July.

1994 Music Picks (Metal Free Edition)

I have 30 albums for you this week, so I am going to be even more brief than usual in my reviews! 1994 was ridiculous. I graduated from high school back in 1994, and it was one of the toughest years of my life.

No particular order, but the first few albums stick out in my mind…

• Kyuss – ‘Welcome To Sky Valley’ can’t really explain it, but I would not call this a heavy metal album, but one of the heaviest psyche rock masterpieces ever recorded in the southern California desert.
• NIN – ‘The Downward Spiral’ if you had to pick one album to represent the 1990s, I think you could do worse than this.
• Portishead – ‘Dummy’ sure Massive Attack were ahead on the triphop thing, but this album put the genre on the map! Still one of the best albums ever.
• Failure – ‘Magnified’ this band doesn’t really sound like any other band but they sound very, very 90s, and this album is a perfect album start to finish. Very heavy alt rock sounds that aren’t quite grunge, aren’t quite industrial, but in a world all its own.
• Heavy Vegetable – ‘The Amazing Undersea Adventures of Aqua Kitty’ imagine what pop punk sounds like in an alternate universe and you might get close to what this all over the map album sounds like. Prog meets pop punk? ok!
• God – ‘The Anatomy of Addiction’ wild dubbed out noise rock, avant-garde punk jazz industrial band from the UK with members of Godflesh and The Bug! One of my favorite albums of all time!
• Jawbox – ‘For Your Own Special Sweetheart’ one of the best indie rock albums you’ll ever hear and For Your Own Special Sweetheart captured the times perfectly. Jawbox at their very best.
• Melvins – ‘Stoner Witch’ much too “not serious” and absurd for heavy metal, but this album sure is heavy.
• Unwound – ‘New Plastic Ideas’ what punk rock should sound more like. There should be more bands like Unwound. But they’re one of a kind, so what you gonna do?
• Today is the Day – ‘Willpower’ one of the most emotionally charged, disturbing, and spiritually moving rock albums you’ll ever experience. Americana.
• Deep Turtle – ‘There’s a Vomitsprinkler in My Liverriver’ here is my weirdo, unexpected find! this album is insane good! It’s just as weird as its name. I don’t know how to describe it but it’s full of recognizable genre based riffs but all strung together to make complex songs similar to something Mr Bungle might do if they were an alt punk band with a lesser budget? Maybe? Whatever it is, I’m glad I found it!
• Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 – ‘Strangers From The Universe’ I have known about this band for years and have liked them, but I have never connected with any of their albums like I have with this one.
• Ween – ‘Chocolate and Cheese’ pretty sure these guys (Dean and Gene Ween in case you didn’t know!) were already legends even by this point, early on in their career, but if not, they were after Chocolate and Cheese!
• Stereolab – ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’ you just cannot go wrong with Stereolab! alt pop, motorik, band of musicians, electronic, you just cannot define them…
• Osamu Sato – ‘Transmigration’ electronic music is starting to take off a lot this year, but still pretty early… anyway, the hidden gem I found is my pick for 1994 electronic music! If you’re into that kind of thing.
• Soundgarden – ‘Superunknown’ grunge masterpiece! Even the lesser known songs are top notch!
• Starflyer 59 – ‘self-titled’ here is my shoegaze pick from 1994!
• Mark Lanegan – ‘Whiskey For the Holy Ghost’ one of the great American singing voices! Highly recommended! Check out Mark Lanegan Band and his solo albums. Screaming Trees were good too, but I feel that he shines on his own.
• Dazzling Killmen – ‘Face of Collapse’ gotta throw my favorite Dazzling Killmen on the list, they’re from St Louis and one of a kind! Noise punk math rock? Mathy noise rock punks?
• MC Solaar – ‘Prose Combat’ the finest French hiphop you’ll ever find. MC Solaar is always on point, spot on.
• Massive Attack – ‘Protection’ the second Massive Attack album may not be the total classic Blue Lines was, but it’s close… almost feels like an EP to me, but on here for the title track alone! Good stuff.
• Cherubs – ‘Heroin Man’ not very politically correct, but I’m sure there were plenty of heroin overdoses in Austin TX in the 1990s, and 1994 was the year Cobain died too, so maybe that’s how they came up with their album title? Anyways, top tier noise rock masterpiece herein!
• Gang Starr – ‘Hard To Earn’ Guru and DJ Premier, hiphop elites, need I say more?
• Drive Like Jehu – ‘Yank Crime’ highly energetic, explosively creative punk rock! I hadn’t heard this one before, but it might be my favorite Drive Like Jehu album I’ve heard.
• Stone Temple Pilots – ‘Purple’ this, along with Jawbox, reminds me of driving around in the summer of 1994. Purple would be a good soundtrack for that summer, if I had to pick just one. It kind of blew up because of The Crow soundtrack, too. Still holds up to this day as an all-time rock’n‘roll classic!
• Killing Joke – ‘Pandemonium’ at this point Killing Joke were moving more towards industrial metal but still retaining their 80s songwriting chops. It’s the first KJ album I ever bought and I still love it, although I listened to it the most that year it came out. The super catchy opening track seals the deal right away.
• Organized Konfusion – ‘The Extinction Agenda’ hidden gem hiphop! Very highly recommended!
• Dog Faced Hermans – ‘Those Deep Buds’ alt punk/art rock at its best with Dog Faced Hermans!
• Beastie Boys – ‘Ill Communication’ this album was everywhere in 1994! and it’s a good one.
• Tom Petty – ‘Wildflowers’ and this album has been everywhere since it came out! a rare occasion where I think an album of this stature pretty much deserves it! Absolutely stacked.

And that’s enough 1994 music to keep anyone occupied for a while! Sure you may know a bunch of it, but there’s plenty of obscurities too. Or maybe it’ll all be familiar to you. Except Deep Turtle. I don’t believe you that you know that one.

Back to baseball! I have one more graphic from baseball savant/statcast for you. It shows how our defense has been performing this season using Outs Above Average (OAA).

The Cardinals play the Yankees at Yankee Stadium at the same time the third day in a row tonight at 6:05. Then they move on to the Rockies. Andre Pallante vs Will Warren, looks like. Pallante has been the better pitcher in this matchup, but ESPN is picking the Yankees to win. Let’s make ESPN look dumb, please.

The MLB trade deadline is over and we're at the latter part of the 2026 baseball season, during which teams are either jockeying for postseason position, evaluating young prospects and other talent they recently acquired, and re-evaluating those held on to.

If you're 49-65 and have one of the worst records in baseball like the San Francisco Giants, then odds are the remainder of the season is an extended tryout period to see who will claim a starting spot, find a way into the batting lineup or even make next year's 40-man roster.

That's the direction the Giants are headed to next.

"We're going to get some looks at some younger players, and I think as much as anything, it's going to be an opportunity for us as a front office and a coaching staff to evaluate some of our players, and some of them are going to get some longer runways than they've had in the past," Giants general manager Buster Posey said in a radio interview on 97.5 FM.

It's about the only thing left for San Francisco to play for since being left out of playoff conversations. The Giants are 21 games back of the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. Grading talent and going into the offseason this fall is about all the Giants have to look forward to.

But there are still questions that need to be answered going into the offseason. There are holes in the roster that need to be filled. And overall, San Francisco needs to figure out which direction it's headed.

"I think these last two months that we can be excited about, to build off of, and you know to look to build on from what we do here these last couple months and into the future," Posey said.

Posey will have his work cut out for him as the Giants face many questions as the season comes to a close following the deals made, and those not made, at the deadline. It seems like San Francisco went through a semi-reset, dealing six players at the deadline including Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle.

Here's what San Francisco needs to consider in these final two months and into the offseason:

Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders:W, 8-3 vs. Rochester Red Wings

C J.C. Escarra 2-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI — went yard in three-run fifth
2B Marco Luciano 2-5, 2B, GIDP
SS Oswaldo Cabrera 2-5, RBI
RF Yanquiel Fernández 2-4, RBI, K
3B Tyler Hardman 2-4, 2B, RBI
1B Ernesto Martinez Jr. 0-3, BB
DH Christian Bethancourt 1-4, K
CF Duke Ellis 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 K, 2 SB — second-straight season with 40 steals in the Yanks’ organization
LF Kenedy Corona 1-4, RBI, K

Brendan Beck 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 12 K, WP (win) — 22 whiffs and a new season-high with a dozen punchouts
Zach Messinger 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 1 BB, 2 K
Brian Hendry 0.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 0 K
Rafael Montero 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Double-A Somerset Patriots:L, 3-17 at Akron Rubber — they’ve had better matinees

CF Jace Avina 2-4, BB, RBI, K
DH DJ Gladney 2-5, 2B, 2 K
C Omar Alfonzo 1-5, 2 K, passed ball, throwing error — first hit with the organization
SS Roderick Arias 1-5, RBI, 2 K, CS, fielding error — bumpy Double-A debut outside of the ground-ball RBI single in his first at-bat
2B Connor McGinnis 1-4, BB, 2 K
LF Jackson Castillo 0-2, 3 BB
3B Coby Morales 1-5, 2B, K
1B Josh Moylan 1-3, BB, RBI, K, 2 throwing errors — Patriots committed five errors on the day
RF Luis Durango 0-2, 2 BB, outfield assist

Cade Smith 4 IP, 5 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 5 K (loss)
Harrison Cohen 1 IP, 1 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 2 K
Hueston Morrill 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, HBP, WP, throwing error — Somerset allowed seven runs each in the sixth and seventh, yuck
Matt Keating 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 1 K
Michael Arias 0.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R (5 ER), 1 BB, 1 K, HBP — un-good, as they say
Kelly Austin 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K — Cy Young for him!

High-A Hudson Valley Renegades:L, 6-12 at Greenville Drive

SS Core Jackson 2-4, 2B, BB, K, fielding error — returned from IL
CF Jackson Lovich 2-5, 2 RBI, 2 K
DH Eric Genther 1-4, 2B, BB, K
1B Kyle West 3-5, HR, 2 RBI, SB, missed catch error — 18th dinger of season
2B Enmanuel Tejeda 0-5, 2 K, 2 GIDP
RF Willy Montero 1-3, BB, RBI, K, SB
LF Robbie Burnett 0-3, BB, 2 K, SB
C Josue Gonzalez 0-3, 3 K, HBP, passed ball — tough day
3B Bryce Martin-Grudzielanek 0-3, BB, K, SB — High-A debut

Franyer Herrera 3.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R (6 ER), 4 BB, 4 K, HR, HBP (loss)
Andrew Landry 0.2 IP, 1 H, 3 R (0 ER), 1 BB, 0 K, throwing error
Jackson Fristoe 1 IP, 1 H, 2 R (2 ER), 2 BB, 0 K
Thomas Balboni Jr. 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, HR
Jack Sokol 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K

Low-A Tampa Tarpons:L, 2-5 at Clearwater Threshers

SS Dax Kilby 0-2, 2 BB
RF Wilberson De Pena 0-4, K, outfield assist
CF Yostin Pena 2-4, 2 K, SB
LF Paul Gutierrez-Contreras II 1-4, RBI, K, SB — singled for first pro hit in debut for 2026 fourth-rounder, 110.1 mph off the bat (also two other bits of contact at 107.9 mph or better)
C Bear Harrison 1-4, 3B, K — tripled 106.1 mph off the bat for first pro hit in debut for 2026 fifth-rounder
3B Hans Montero 1-4, 2B, RBI, K
1B Tyce Armstrong 0-4, 2 K — pro debut for 2026 19th-rounder
2B Blake Cyr 1-3 — singled for first pro hit in debut for 2026 18th-rounder
DH Luis Puello 0-2, BB, K

Sabier Marte 3.2 IP, 4 H, 3 R (3 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, 2 HR, HBP (loss)
Rafael Arias 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, HBP — got K’s for all four outs in Low-A debut
Josh Tiedemann 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R (1 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, HR
Austin Breedlove 1 IP, 0 H, 1 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 0 K, WP
Jose Martinez 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K — struck out the side

Florida Complex League Yankees: Season over

Dominican Summer League Yankees:W, 15-6 (8) at DSL Rockies

CF Isaias Castillo 1-3, 2B, 2 BB, RBI, K, HBP
LF Luis Cruz 1-4, 2 BB, RBI, GIDP
SS Stiven Marinez 4-5, 3 RBI, 2 SB, CS
SS Emmanuel Orozco 0-1
2B Juan Torres 2-4, BB, 4 RBI, SB, HBP — two-run single was crowning blow in seven-run second
DH Juan Martinez 2-5
PH-DH Jose Peralta 0-1, K
C Cesar Lopez 0-4, BB, RBI, SB, HBP — stole home on front end of double steal
1B Stalen Ramirez 1-3, 2 BB, K, HBP
1B John Rosillo 0-0
RF Alfiery Matos 2-5, RBI, 2 SB
3B Abrahan Pichardo 1-3, 2 BB

Dalvin Taveras 5 IP, 3 H, 4 R (4 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, HR, 2 HBP (win)
Freddy Lopez 2 IP, 3 H, 2 R (2 ER), 3 BB, 2 K, WP
Emanuel Vargas 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Dominican Summer League Bombers: suspended in the ninth inning tied 4-4 vs. DSL Colorado

CF Ruben Castillo 1-4, 2B, GIDP, HBP, SB, CS
SS Dariel Santana 0-5, 3 K, throwing error
DH Alessandro Rodriguez 2-3, 2B, BB, K
2B Carlos Bello 0-3, 2 K
RF David Carrera 1-3, HR, BB, RBI, K — tied game with solo shot in eighth; probably why this wasn’t just called at a 4-3 Colorado final!
C Kenneth Melendez 0-4, RBI, 2 K, throwing error
3B Germayhoni Beltre 1-4, 2 SB
LF Richard Meran 1-3, 2B, BB, K, SB
1B Alfred Ciriaco 0-4, 2 K

Higor Requena 3.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R (4 ER), 2 BB, 3 K, HBP, 2 WP
Junior Tavera 4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 2 WP
Andre Avila 0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 K

Triple-A: Syracuse Mets (38-37/14-19)

COLUMBUS 15, SYRACUSE 7 (BOX)

Jonah Tong was initially scheduled to start this ballgame but he was pushed back so that he would start later in the week. Dakota Hawkins got the start instead, and I will give him the benefit of the doubt that he wasn’t as prepared as he would’ve otherwise been or something, because he got shelled. The right-hander recorded just two outs and allowed 6 runs to score- with two additional runners scoring after he was lifted from the game. Down 8-0 before even coming up to the plate, Syracuse predictably lost this one. The offense made sure this one wasn’t a complete embarrassment- Christopher Morel hit another homer, his fourth homer in five at-bats, and Nick Lorusso hit one in his first at-bat with Syracuse- but even scoring 7 runs in total, the Mets were at no point really in this one. Let’s focus on silver linings though: Brian Metoyer threw 1.1 scoreless innings and struck out all 4 batters he faced in his first Triple-A outing, inching that much closer to being the final 40th round draft pick to make their MLB debut and Mike Tauchman improbably threw not just one but two scoreless innings.

·  2B Vidal Bruján: 1-5, 2B, 2 RBI, E (7)

·  CF Nick Morabito: 1-4, R, BB

·  3B Christopher Morel: 1-5, R, HR (9), 2 RBI, 2 K

·  SS Ronny Mauricio: 0-5, 2 K, E (8)

·  DH-P Mike Tauchman: 0-4, R

·  1B Nick Lorusso: 1-4, R, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 K

·  RF Jose Ramos: 2-4, R, 3B, K

·  C Hayden Senger: 2-4, R, 2B, RBI, K

·  LF D’Andre Smith: 2-3, R, HBP

·  RHP Dakota Hawkins: 0.2 IP, 5 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 0 K, L (0-1)

·  RHP Ofreidy Gómez: 1.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Brian Metoyer: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

·  RHP Zach Franklin: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K

·  RHP Dylan Ross: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

·  RHP Dan Hammer: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

·  LHP Mike Tauchman: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, HBP

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Brian Metoyer assigned to Syracuse Mets from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

ROSTER ALERT: SS D’Andre Smith assigned to Syracuse Mets from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

ROSTER ALERT: CF Jose Ramos assigned to Syracuse Mets from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

ROSTER ALERT: 3B Nick Lorusso assigned to Syracuse Mets from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Dakota Hawkins assigned to Syracuse Mets from Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

ROSTER ALERT: Syracuse Mets released LHP Brandon Waddell.

ROSTER ALERT: Syracuse Mets released 3B Jose Rojas.

Double-A: Binghamton Rumble Ponies (27-42/12-22)

BINGHAMTON 6, HARTFORD 3 (BOX)

So, remember yesterday where I said that Mitch Voit was not going to be able to sustain his   .500/.593/909 batting line over the course of the rest of the season? Well, maybe I was wrong about that, as the infielder logged another two doubles en route to a 3-4 evening which raised his line to .538/.613/.962 in 7 games with the Rumble Ponies. Voit drove in two of Binghamton’s runs, with Marco Vargas and a returning Jacob Reimer driving in another two apiece.

·  SS Mitch Voit: 3-4, 2 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI, SB (4)

·  DH Marco Vargas: 2-3, 2 R, HR (1), 2 RBI, BB

·  2B Émilien Pitre: 2-4

·  3B Jacob Reimer: 1-4, 2 RBI, K

·  C Chris Suero: 0-3, K, HBP, E (12)

·  1B Billy Amick: 0-4, 3 K

·  CF John Bay: 0-4, 2 K

·  LF Corey Collins: 0-3, R, BB

·  RF JT Benson: 1-4, R, K

·  RHP Channing Austin: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, HBP

·  RHP Cristofer Gomez: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, W (1-0)

·  RHP Zach Peek: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, H (4)

·  RHP Bryce Jenkins: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, H (1)

·  RHP Garrett Stratton: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, S (1)

ROSTER ALERT: OF JT Benson assigned to Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Brooklyn Cyclones.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Bryce Jenkins assigned to Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Brooklyn Cyclones.

ROSTER ALERT: OF Yohairo Cuevas assigned to Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Brooklyn Cyclones.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Cristofer Gomez assigned to Binghamton Rumble Ponies from Brooklyn Cyclones.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies placed RHP Danis Correa on the 7-day injured list.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies activated 3B Jacob Reimer from the 7-day injured list.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies transferred C Vincent Perozo to the Development List.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies released SS Wyatt Young.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies released RHP Jordan Geber.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies released OF Matt Rudick.

ROSTER ALERT: Binghamton Rumble Ponies released 1B JT Schwartz.

High-A: Brooklyn Cyclones (25-40/18-18)

BROOKLYN 7, WILMINGTON 1 (BOX)

For a while, it looked like the Cyclones might throw their third no-hitter in franchise history, as Nicolas Carreno blanked the Blue Rocks for 5.1 no-hit innings and Parker Carlson did the same for another 1.1. In the bottom of the eighth, Luis Rodriguez led off the inning with a walk- Wilmington’s fifth- subsequently allowed a hit to end the no-hitter, and a few batters later, a run to end the shutout. These things happen, what can you do? The left-hander limited the damage to just a run and his replacement, Juan Arnaud, threw a scoreless ninth so no big deal ultimately. With the win, the Cyclones are back to .500 for the second half and could conceivably end the week in first place if they do well in the rest of this series against the first place Blue Rocks.

·  CF Aidan Smith: 2-4, R, BB, K, SB (15)

·  LF Trey Snyder: 2-5, 2 R, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 K

·  1B Cole Mathis: 0-4, BB, 2 K

·  DH Randy Guzman: 1-5, R, RBI, K

·  2B Yonatan Henriquez: 1-2, 2B, 2 BB, CS (8)

·  RF John Spikerman: 1-4, RBI, 2 K

·  C Ronald Hernandez: 0-4, RBI

·  3B Jamari Baylor: 1-3, R, HR (3), RBI, BB, K, E (2)

·  SS Antonio Jimenez: 0-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 SB (4, 5)

·  RHP Nicolas Carreno: 5.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 5 BB, 8 K, W (1-1)

·  RHP Parker Carlson: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K

·  LHP Luis R. Rodriguez: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, WP

·  RHP Juan Arnaud: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

ROSTER ALERT: 1B Carter Dierdorf assigned to Brooklyn Cyclones from FCL Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Elwis Mijares assigned to Brooklyn Cyclones from St. Lucie Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Joe Scarborough assigned to Brooklyn Cyclones from St. Lucie Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones activated 3B Cole Mathis from the 7-day injured list.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones placed RHP Frank Camarillo on the 7-day injured list.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones transferred SS Colin Houck to the Development List.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones transferred 3B Trace Willhoite to the Development List.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones released RHP Tanner Witt.

ROSTER ALERT: Brooklyn Cyclones released 3B AJ Salgado.

Single-A: St. Lucie Mets (33-33/13-21)

POSTPONED (RAIN)

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Candido Cuevas assigned to St. Lucie Mets from Brooklyn Cyclones.

ROSTER ALERT: 1B Reed Stallman assigned to St. Lucie Mets from FCL Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Dillon Stiltner assigned to St. Lucie Mets from FCL Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: RHP Camden Lohman assigned to St. Lucie Mets from FCL Mets.

ROSTER ALERT: St. Lucie Mets transferred SS Branny De Oleo to the Development List.

ROSTER ALERT: St. Lucie Mets released RHP Franyel Diaz.

ROSTER ALERT: St. Lucie Mets released RHP Luis Alvarez.

ROSTER ALERT: St. Lucie Mets released RHP Omar Victorino.

Rookie: FCL Mets (24-33)

NO GAME (SEASON OVER)

STAR OF THE NIGHT

Mitch Voit

GOAT OF THE NIGHT

Dakota Hawkins

Good morning, Camden Chatters.

I’ve just double-checked, wondering if perhaps Monday’s events were just a fever dream, and I can confirm: yes, the Orioles really did trade Adley Rutschman to the Red Sox.

It still stings. And don’t just take my word for it. The clubhouse reaction from Orioles players yesterday reflected just how much the Rutschman trade has affected his longtime teammates and friends. Trevor Rogers described it as “a shock.” Jackson Holliday said, “he’s going to be very missed around here.” Gunnar Henderson was too worked up to even put it into words, telling reporters, “I’m not going to be able to talk about it today.”

The impact of Adley’s departure was best described by Colton Cowser, who was with Rutschman when he received the call that he’d been traded. “Just from a human side of it, obviously, it was tough. I was pretty emotional yesterday,” he said. “Definitely some sadness there, and all I could do was give him a hug and tell him I’m here for him and I love him.” (I’m not crying. You’re crying.)

I attended last night’s game and I couldn’t help sensing a bit of a funereal atmosphere, as if fans were saying goodbye not just to Adley the individual, but also to the era of Orioles baseball that he represented. Rutschman’s much-hyped arrival in 2022 ushered in an (all too brief) renaissance of the club’s fortunes, a return to glory fueled by young, exciting, homegrown players. When the O’s peaked to a 101-win season and AL East title in 2023, Adley was the poster child for their success, the affable All-Star and team leader who seemed destined to guide the Orioles to perennial contention for his long and illustrious Baltimore career.

It didn’t turn out that way. The O’s stumbled into mediocrity during the 2024 season and have really never recovered. Many of the homegrown prospects have failed to develop in the majors, or have regressed after having initial success. Rutschman himself is part of that group, having battled injuries and offensive struggles for the last three years. And now the Adley Era is officially over for the Orioles. He’s moved on to greener pastures, while the O’s are left to face the harsh reality that the total organizational rebuild they underwent for the last seven years has fizzled out, with not even one playoff game win to show for it. It sucks.

That’s not to say that the Orioles are necessarily doomed. They’ve still got plenty of talented players on the roster and intriguing prospects on the farm who could help the team in the not-too-distant future. But after witnessing the disappointing, anticlimactic end to the Adley Era, it’s hard to feel particularly optimistic about the state of the Orioles or the people who are making the decisions right now.

Links

More from Elias on yesterday’s trade deadline activity and impact on Orioles – School of Roch

Considering that Mike Elias is the architect of this wholly disappointing Orioles team, it’s hard to stomach his comments about how he’s trying to “make the right moves by the franchise.” Why start now?

After a whirlwind day, Adley Rutschman reflects on the ‘unbelievable amount of love’ he felt in Baltimore – The Baltimore Banner

In his farewell to Baltimore, Adley has some nice things to say about the Orioles and their fans. Warning: this article features a photo of Rutschman in his Red Sox uniform. If you’ll excuse me, I need to go throw up.

Orioles defeat Angels behind a strong Cade Povich spot start, 3-1 – Camden Chat

The Orioles won their first game of the post-Adley era last night, and Andrea SK has the details. Sure, the Orioles just barely beat the worst team in baseball, and were out-hit 11-4, and were dominated by former Oriole Grayson Rodriguez and his 7.98 ERA. But a win is a win, I suppose.

Orioles birthdays and history

Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! You share your day with two former O’s right-handers: John Wasdin (54) and the late Nelson Briles (b. 1943, d. 2005).

On this date in 1994, Orioles righty (and current MASN analyst) Ben McDonald pitched a one-hit shutout against his future team, the Brewers. McDonald threw 145 pitches (!) in tossing his sixth — and final — career shutout.

And on this day in 2019, Jonathan Villar hit for the cycle, becoming the fifth player in O’s history to do so. Villar tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth, homered in the sixth, and singled off Aroldis Chapman in the ninth. Sadly, the Orioles still lost the game, 9-6, largely because they coughed up five home runs to the Yankees. It was the Orioles’ 10th straight game in which they gave up multiple home runs, setting a dubious major league record.

That was a rough year for the Orioles, but at least the rebuild was all worth it in the end, right? …Right?

Random Orioles game of the day

For today’s date, the random number generator spat out the number 2025. Well, OK then. So much for reminiscing about some old Orioles teams. Way back on Aug. 5, 2025, the Orioles got shut out in Philadelphia, 5-0. Starter Dean Kremer gave up four runs, including a Max Kepler homer, while the O’s offense — which days earlier had traded away Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano, Cedric Mullins, and Ramón Urías — was utterly stymied by Taijuan Walker and three Phillies relievers. They managed only five hits, all singles.

Free of charge for the discerning reader.

Happy birthday to Tim Federowicz, and a mighty host of others.

Today in baseball history, in 1921 – KDKA radio station provides its listeners with the first-ever broadcast of a major league game. Harold Arlin becomes baseball’s first play-by-play announcer as he details the action as the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Phillies at Forbes Field, 8-5, and other stories as well.

Today in baseball history:

• 1922 – Tommy McCarthy, a top outfielder in the 1890s, dies at 58. He will enter the Hall of Fame in 1946. On the 14th, an all-star team will beat the Red Sox in a benefit game that raises more than $5,000 for his family.
• 1959 – Willie McCovey hits two home runs and Willie Mays another as the Giants whip the Braves’ Bob Buhl, 4 – 1, to move into first place.
• 1969 – Willie Stargell becomes the first player to hit a home run completely out of Dodger Stadium. The 512-foot, seventh-inning, bases-empty blast breaks a 3-3 tie, helping the Pirates defeat Los Angeles, 11-3. The 2,500th career hit of Roberto Clemente and a two-run homer from Bill Mazeroski figure prominently in Pittsburgh’s seven-run ninth inning. Taking a no-decision in what will prove to be his final Major League appearance is Dodger starter Don Drysdale, pitching with a torn rotator cuff, which, despite assurances that it is “something I’m going to have to learn to pitch with,” will lead to his retirement within less than a week.
• 1973 – Braves knuckleballer Phil Niekro no-hits the Padres, 9-0, and improves his record to 11-4. He walks three and strikes out four in recording the first no-hitter by the franchise in Atlanta.
• 1994 – Atlanta 1B Fred McGriff hits a home run in the Braves’ 16-6 win over Cincinnati, making him only the ninth major leaguer in history to hit 30 or more homers in seven consecutive seasons.
• 2005 – Albert Pujols becomes the first player to connect for 30 home runs in each of his first five big league seasons. The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman has hit 190 homers during this five-year span from the start of his career, equaling Eddie Mathews‘ total (1952–1956) and with 25 fewer than Ralph Kiner (1946–1950).
• 2007 – Tom Glavine becomes the 23rd pitcher and fifth left-hander to win 300 games in the major leagues with an 8-3 victory over the Cubs. 
• 2009 – Jim Thome hits two homers, including a three-run blast off Darren Oliver in the sixth, to pace the White Sox to a 6-2 win over the Angels. It is the 44th multi-homer game of Thome’s career; with 561 round-trippers, he is only two behind Reggie Jackson for 12th place on the all-time list.

Today in Cubs history:

• 1911 – Cubs manager Frank Chance suspends Joe Tinker and fines him $150 for indifferent play. He is reinstated the next day.
• 1922 – Rogers Hornsby sets a new National League single-season home run record with his 28th, eclipsing a 38-year-old mark set by Ed Williamson of the Chicago White Stockings in 1884.
• 1931 – The Cubs edge the Reds, 3-2 at Wrigley Field, when Leo Durocher boots a ground ball hit by Kiki Cuyler. It ends a string of 251 errorless chances in 53 games for Durocher.
• 1945 – The Cubs bang out 22 hits in the first game of a pair to overwhelm the Reds, 12-5. Stan Hack has three doubles and a single, and Phil Cavarretta has four hits. The Cubs take the nightcap, 2-1, behind Claude Passeau‘s six-hitter. Chicago has won 17 of their last 18 games.
• 1979 – In pre-game ceremonies at Wrigley Field, announcer Jack Brickhouse is honored. Today’s broadcast is his 5,000th television broadcast of a game.
• 2000 – Sammy Sosa becomes the first Cubs player to reach 100 RBIs six consecutive times. Hack Wilson did it for five straight seasons from 1926 to 1930.
• 2014 – Highly touted prospect Javier Báez homers in his major league debut for the Cubs, leading off the 12th inning against Boone Logan of the Rockies, to lead his team to a 6-5 win.

Cubs Birthdays:Tim Federowicz*, Tony Jacobs, Rube Novotney.

Today in history:

• 1864 – Battle of Mobile Bay won by the Union Navy, led by Rear Admiral David Farragut with the cry “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!”
• 1926 – Harry Houdini stays in a coffin underwater for 1½ hours before escaping.
• 1932 – Clyde Barrow and two associates kill Sheriff C.G. Maxwell and his deputy, Eugene C. Moore, in the first instance of the Barrow gang killing a lawman.
• 1936 – American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 200 m in a world record time of 20.7 seconds, his third gold medal of the Berlin Olympics.
• 1992 – Four officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, previously acquitted on charges of beating Rodney King, are indicted on federal civil rights charges.
• 2012 – Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt wins the 100 m at the London Olympics in 9.63 seconds, breaking the record he set in the 2008 Olympics.

Today in music history:

• 1966 – The Beatles release their “Revolver” album in the UK,
• 1967 – Bobby Gentry releases her hit “Ode to Billie Joe”.
• 1972 – The Moody Blues reissue their 1967 single “Nights in White Satin,” and it reaches #2 on the US charts, higher than the initial release..
• 1974 – Joan Jett forms her rock group, The Runaways, in the United States.
• 2021 – Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (80) announces he will be unable to accompany the band on its 2021 U.S. tour based on medical advice, with American Steve Jordan tapped to fill in.

*pictured.

We’ve finally reached the end of trade deadline season, and after five weekly articles previewing what might happen, we now know: the Brewers tried but failed to acquire Tarik Skubal, and instead settled for two trades that netted Dustin May, JoJo Romero, and Antonio Senzatela. (A smaller trade earlier in the week shored up catching depth, with Bo Naylor heading to Triple-A Nashville.)

First, on Skubal

There has been an inherent disappointment with the Brewers around the league’s punditry because they did not acquire Tarik Skubal. By all accounts, they pushed extremely hard, but the Tigers chose to go with the Dodgers’ offer, and there’s not really much the Brewers can do about that. If they were willing to include Luis Peña, as reports suggest, the only thing they could’ve done to up the ante would’ve been to include Jesús Made. Trading the game’s top prospect for a two-month rental that probably wouldn’t even make you the favorite in the National League would’ve been insanity for a small-market team like the Brewers.

If you’ll allow me to rant a little, this disappointment—which in many cases feels like blame or rage from people who did not want the Dodgers to get Skubal—drives me nuts. I am extremely tired of national writers who pay no mind what it’s like to be a long-term fan of a small-market club telling me that it is my team’s fault for ruining baseball. Let’s dissect the Skubal scenario for a minute.

The Tigers wanted a controllable pitcher who was in or close to the big leagues. For the Brewers, this likely meant Logan Henderson. Obviously, Henderson is not Tarik Skubal. But… Henderson has a better ERA than Skubal this season. He has a better WHIP. He has struck out more batters per nine innings. He has nowhere near enough innings to qualify, but if he did, Henderson would be ninth in the majors in ERA this season, nestled comfortably in between Cristopher Sánchez and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. [Note that stats in this article are current as of Tuesday morning.]

Logan Henderson is really good. In the majors. Right now. Henderson is not Skubal, but this season he’s producing at a level that’s about 80% of Skubal… so if you give that back in a trade, is that not like four steps forward, three steps back? There were no other real options for the Brewers to build a trade like this around. Kyle Harrison is a good young pitcher but the same concept applies to him. Brandon Sproat has been a mess this season, and I can’t imagine the Tigers would’ve gone for that. Jacob Misiorowski is obviously not going to be included. Tyson Hardin, the top Brewers prospect at Triple-A Nashville, isn’t in the same league.

The Dodgers can afford to give away a guy like River Ryan because they have Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, and Justin Wrobleski.

All of this ignores the other obvious factors at play. Like how the Dodgers don’t need their prospects to work out because they can just buy starters when they need them. Or how they got Zyhir Hope, the centerpiece of the Skubal trade, because when 29 other teams would’ve promoted Michael Busch to play first base, the Dodgers instead signed Freddie Freeman as a free agent and traded Busch to the Cubs for younger prospects… including Hope. They don’t have to worry about Hope making it to the big leagues because if they have a hole, they’ll just fill it with the next Kyle Tucker that comes along.

Yes, the Brewers could maybe push their payroll a little further. They could’ve done the incredibly irresponsible thing of offering Made. But the Brewers, the team in the smallest market in the league, has made the postseason in eight of the last nine years. Shouldn’t that give the front office a little bit of the benefit of the doubt? Haven’t they proven that whatever approach they have taken works? That maybe the fact that they are risk averse isn’t a flaw but is in fact central to their unprecedented success?

There will come a time when Matt Arnold will need to go for it. But the Brewers simply cannot afford to be reckless with their assets. The “bites of the apple” approach might be infuriating sometimes, but there’s no denying that they’ve set themselves up for success. The team is still very young. There’s no reason to think they won’t be good again next season and the season after. At a certain point, Arnold not making a huge move will be a true mistake, but I don’t think this trade deadline was that time.

Ignore all of the pundits who say the Brewers failed by not acquiring Skubal. They are the same pundits who’ve predicted the team’s downfall over and over again, only for the team’s win total to keep rising.

The Brewers are better

With all that said and the context understood, let’s look at what the Brewers actually did.

If I were to put forth an optimistic take about Dustin May, it would be this: if, when the season ends in a couple months, we look back and see May as the second-best pitcher traded at the trade deadline, I would not be shocked. Would I predict that? No. Does that say more about the market than May? Yes.

But everyone raves about May’s stuff, and he’s gone through stretches where he looked great this season. In a 12-start stretch between April 10th and June 15th, May had a 2.54 ERA, 2.68 FIP in 74 1/3 innings. This included a game when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Brewers (but ultimately lost, 2-1) and a complete-game, one-hit, one-walk, nine-strikeout shutout of the Padres. May’s overall numbers on the season are somewhat mediocre—his 4.38 ERA translates to just a 91 ERA+, for instance. But the underlying numbers are strong: May’s 3.14 FIP is well over a run better than his ERA, and if you merely lop off the two duds he started the season with, May has a 3.54 ERA and 2.91 FIP in 19 starts.

There will always be injury questions with May. With 109 innings pitched, he’s already approach his career high (132 1/3) despite debuting eight years ago, in 2019. He had a brief bout of back tightness in June during a start against the Royals in which he got lit up; he skipped his next turn in the rotation but never went on the IL. But he is healthy right now, and there’s some real upside.

In the bullpen, the Brewers did not get the lights-out reliever they coveted, and given the relatively small price the Pirates paid for Luke Weaver, one wonders if David Stearns and the Mets were ignoring the Brewers’ calls. They did, however, get two players who can help. Romero is on the injured list after an emergency appendectomy but should be back in the big leagues within a few weeks. He is having mixed success this season, but he was lights out in 2025 to the tune of a 2.07 ERA in 65 appearances. He’s also left-handed, which, along with DL Hall’s return, can take some of the pressure and usage off of Aaron Ashby.

Senzatela was a career-long starter until this season; he got off to an incredible start and has been roughed up of late, but while he posted a 1.30 ERA in his first 17 appearances and an 8.15 ERA in his next 17, is FIP is nearly identical: 3.30 in the first half, 3.49 in the second. Senzatela’s home vs. road splits also tell the story of a guy who will be happy to get out of Coors Field: this season, he’s got a 4.81 ERA in 16 games in Colorado and a 2.57 ERA in 18 games on the road.

All three players will help. Adding May to the mix will keep some pressure off of Misiorowski, Harrison, and Henderson, and the bullpen adds a couple of pieces that should give Pat Murphy and Chris Hook a couple more options that they can really count on.

What went out

The trades were not without cost. The prospects sent out for Senzatela were marginal (left-handed pitcher Mark Manfredi and shortstop Juan Martinez), but the Brewers gave up (and gave up on) Craig Yoho and parted with longtime depth piece Blake Perkins to acquire Naylor, who probably won’t even play in the majors this season. (The other player the Brewers acquired in that trade, Codi Heuer, was shuttled along to the Orioles for cash on deadline day.)

But the big headlines came in what the Brewers sent the Cardinals—a longtime foe—for May and Romero. Center fielder Josiah Ragsdale has enjoyed a big breakout season and is killing the ball at Double-A Biloxi, but, as they say, you have to give up something to get something. However, if you’d told me before the deadline that Ragsdale was included in a trade for May and Romero, I’d have assumed he was the better prospect.

That wasn’t the case here, as the highly-regarded 18-year-old Alexander Frias was the other piece sent out. Like Jackson Chourio and Jesús Made before him, Frias put up eye-popping numbers (and batted-ball metrics) in the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Complex League before making it to low-A Wilson as an 18-year-old; Frias hit .316/.411/.400 in 27 games in the Dominican Republic, then hit .441/.518/.678 in 32 games with one of the Brewers’ teams in Arizona. He was promoted to the Carolina League in July, and in 28 games hit just .236 but he showed patience and flashed pop, with four homers, four doubles, and two triples, good for a .328 OBP and .418 slugging percentage.

Frias’s batted ball metrics were high enough for some prospect observers to rate him very highly. FanGraphs was the most optimistic: they had Frias as the #43 overall prospect on their big board, behind only Made and Luis Peña on the Brewers. Keith Law also included Frias in his midseason update at #69, again behind just Made and Peña among Brewer prospects.

That feeling on Frias is far from universal. MLB Pipeline had Frias as the Brewers’ #11 prospect, and while Baseball America did give Frias the #100 spot on their midseason update, that was behind eight other Brewers, though three of those have graduated or are about to (Made, Peña, Cooper Pratt, Luis Lara, Logan Henderson, Josh Adamczewski, Braylon Payne, and Jett Williams).

The reality here is that the Brewers—the team with the most knowledge on Frias—were probably lower on him than the public consensus. And while he drew early comparisons to Chourio and Made, that’s a bit overblown; those two players were both considered five-tool prospects, while Frias is viewed as a future corner outfielder who isn’t likely to have speed as a killer tool in his arsenal. There’s a world where Frias turns into a deadly power hitter, and another where he’s a top-10 overall prospect by the end of next season, but the risk factor here was clearly higher than it was with Chourio and Made (who both, for what it’s worth, put up better offensive stats at the same age as Frias did).

What they didn’t do

Of course, adding pitchers, whether that’s May or Skubal, doesn’t change the fact that the Brewers have the fewest home runs in baseball and an offense that, at times (like right now!), can look awful. The paths to any sort of meaningful offensive upgrade were challenging; the best offensive players to move at the deadline didn’t really have positional fit on the Brewers. Luis García is a left-handed first baseman, duplicative of Jake Bauers. The Brewers wouldn’t have made an offer for Curtis Mead (who unfortunately broke his wrist in his first game with the Red Sox) that included a controllable, promising big-league pitcher (Connelly Early) like Boston did. Adley Rutschman didn’t make sense for Milwaukee and the cost was enormous.

The increasingly large elephant in the room is Christian Yelich’s poor performance as the designated hitter. The Brewers are surely hoping that Yelich can turn things around, given that they still owe him another $48 million over two years after this season, but at this point, his performance and Murphy’s insistence to keep him at or near the top of the lineup is actively hurting the ball club. Over his last 38 games, since June 12, Yelich is batting an appalling .182/.285/.318 with three home runs.

Bringing in a right-handed platoon option—or a right handed batter that would move Andrew Vaughn into a platoon situation at DH—could’ve really helped the team, even if Yelich has been slightly better against left-handed pitchers than righties this season (that bucks a career-long trend, so I don’t really trust those numbers). Jo Adell, Heliot Ramos, and George Springer (who did not move) are all right-handed batters who would’ve interested me as a way to get a little more power into the Brewers’ lineup, and to mitigate the presence of the apparently rapidly deteriorating Yelich.

Another offensive question without an apparent solution is that of William Contreras, who, like Yelich, has been alarmingly bad lately. Contreras’s OPS is down to a career-low .722 (not counting his partial rookie season in 2021), and it is trending in the wrong direction: since a season peak in late June, Contreras has hit an absolutely abysmal .165/.227/.257 over his last 29 games.

The Brewers did not have much of an avenue to improve on Contreras—they’re not going to bench him, and the reality of the situation is that they’re not going to bench Yelich, either. Now that the Brewers have chosen not to make any offensive changes at the trade deadline, they have no choice but to hope that Yelich, Contreras, and Chourio (.240/.304/.351 since June 21) find a way to turn things around. They simply cannot afford not to get contributions from any of these three players; that the Brewers went 15-10 in July with all three players mired in deep slumps is a minor miracle (and a testament to the excellent months had by Garrett Mitchell, Joey Ortiz, and Cooper Pratt).

Moving forward

The Brewers wanted to take a Prince Fielder-style swing at this deadline, but the Dodgers, as they do, stepped in and walked away with the top prize. After missing on Skubal, there wasn’t anyone else even close to that league for the Brewers to pivot to, but they did reasonably well to shore up their pitching staff.

The rest of the job will need to be done by players who were already on the team. The simple fact is, the Brewers even with Skubal wouldn’t have been a favorite to beat the Dodgers in a postseason series (which is a solid argument for why they shouldn’t have gone all in for him in the first place). That the Brewers’ two biggest potential postseason rivals—the Dodgers and Cubs (who added Kevin Gausman, Clay Holmes, Braxton Garrett, and Ryan Zeferjahn)—were two of the teams that did the most at this deadline is not encouraging, but Milwaukee should take heart in the fact that they’ve still got the league’s best record and a healthy cushion in the division. The offense needs to improve, no doubt. But this team is really good, and there’s no reason to say they couldn’t catch lightning in a bottle at the right time come the postseason.

It’s amazing what happens to a lineup when people aren’t constantly getting struck out with men on base and less than one out. I know the defense is going to be wonky, but the addition of Luis Arraez to the lineup is going to be great.

On to the links.

Phillies news:

• When Arraez gave his first interview with the Philly media, he talked about how thankful he was to be in a playoff race.
• With the new lineup and defensive alignment, the team was searching for a spark to carry them to October ($).

MLB news:

• Tuesday was a day for grading trades around the game, so let’s get you caught up. Here are the winners and losers as Fangraphs saw them.
• The Athletic saw some winners and losers at the deadline, as well as some snoozers ($). Seriously, what were the Reds doing, sleeping?
• Finally, the last set of grades from around the trade deadline. I promise, no more grades for trades.
• The Yankees called up their top prospect in George Lombard, Jr. Of course, he then homered in his first at bat.